Don Rogers
Don Rogers, founder of hedge fund seeding firm Stride Capital, has been in the seeding business for a long time. His father started a firm called Rogerscasey in 1976. This global investment solutions firm helped institutions identify new talents for large public and private pension funds to invest in. (Incidentally, it was acquired by Segal Advisors Inc. earlier this year.)

"If you are good at identifying early talent, it can be a real competitive advantage," Rogers told Opalesque in an interview. "That has resonated with me my whole life."

In the early 1990s, he and his brothers started a family investment partnership to invest in alternatives â€“ away from the more traditional model of Rogerscasey. They created their own networks and relationships for identifying new talent and strategies that pension funds had not invested in before. That included hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real estate.

"We were particularly interested in emerging managers who had an impressive background and set of experiences, but also who are hungry and determined and able to think about opportunities in a new way," he notes.

This venture was successful but time-for-a-change came along and he became a founding team member and partner at Skybridge Capital, where he got involved through Michael Dell's office (the founder of Dell, Inc., the computer firm), which was the original backer of Skybridge. In time, Skybridge's business model changed a bit. Just as that was happening, Rogers ......................